Hybrid vehicles and electric cars that are provided with motors and inverters have been supplied. It is important to measure a current that flows through the motor for rotation of the motor to be appropriately controlled. Methods for measuring the current include a current sensor that detects a magnetic flux which is generated around a bus bar connecting the motor and the inverter to each other as a result of a current applied to the bus bar with a detection element (magnetic sensor) and calculates and obtains the current applied to the bus bar based on the detected magnetic flux (for example, refer to JP 2011-112604A (Reference 1)).
The current sensor that is disclosed in Reference 1 is configured by a conductor and a detection element magnetic sensor pinched by a first fitted portion and a second fitted portion which are fitted into each other and formed of resin. The current to be measured flows through the conductor, and the conductor is inserted into a bottom portion side of a groove portion (corresponding to the “slit” according to this disclosure) of a core. The detection element magnetic sensor (corresponding to the “detection element” according to this disclosure) is arranged further on an opening portion side of the groove portion than the conductor. According to this configuration, the magnetic sensor does not have to be molded in its entirety, and thus a current sensor that minimizes stress applied to the magnetic sensor and the core and entails little post-assembly offset fluctuation and temperature drift is realized.
According to the technique that is disclosed in Reference 1, a magnetic field strength of a gap-direction component of a magnetic field that is generated when the current flows through the conductor significantly changes in an insertion direction of the conductor, and thus an error that is included in a result of the detection of the current increases in a case where a position of the magnetic sensor deviates.